


Reunions [Under construction! Do not enter, it’s a mess.!]

by MissMisto



Category: Half-Life, Half-Life 2 - Fandom
Genre: Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Gen, My First Work in This Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2017-01-30
Packaged: 2018-09-20 23:50:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9521537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissMisto/pseuds/MissMisto
Summary: Set 15 years after the events of Half Life 2: Episode 2 and the Combine forces have fallen except for a few protests here and there. Voiced!Gordon reunites with his daughter after 7 months of stasis. Oneshot.





	

It was the 15th anniversary of humanity's intergalactic War. Or rather it would have been, if there was one to speak of.  
With the rebellion against the regimen of the Combine, the war for humanity's freedom had been won before it had even begun. Which was good, because if there was a war, a war as we know it with armies and super weapons, entire species climbing onto each other, scratching each other's backs in desperation, coughing out the blood of the fallen, maybe there wouldn't be anyone left to fight for. Humanity had won not because of it's armies or technology, which remains and will remain questionable*, but thanks to timing. Very good timing, that pulled the rug from under their feet. Shook the entire empire apart after decades of preparation against something greater than itself, something it could never control. Time. And a man with a mission.  
The right man in the wrong place, could* make all the difference in the world.  
She heard that sentence two days ago for the first time, while she slept.

 

SUBJECT: 

Abigail 

Female, age 13 

EDUCATION: [Not specified]

POSITION: [Not specified]

ASSIGNMENT: (subject shows aggressive behaviour and foul language. Terminate employment once subject is stablilzed, then contact staff immediately)  
(Note: not necessarily in that order)

Another morning, another randomized “facility” for Abigail to train in. On each day of training, the section shifts, projecting holograms to fit the pre-made rooms in the central computer's arsenal if the material at hand isn't enough, and presents the subject a different environment with different scenarios each time, assuring* it's awareness of it's surroundings is at it's maximum. But this particular one seemed familiar. Not the same, not as primitive compared to what they had in training facilities before, but close. Not in a way she could cheat her way through like she usually could, unfortunately, but she remembers throwing a glance at something* like this once. Maybe on a newspaper. A magazine? Newspaper is more likely. And it's been very nosy so far.

Glaring at the camera throwing taunts at her from its place on a grey wall to her right, Abby shuffled to the center of the room, her dark hair in a loose bun, her feet bare with her small toes smushed together in an attempt to keep themselves warm and safe from the metal beneath her. She was still in her pajamas as she was rushed here by one of the robots. Why no one has ever* thought of giving these a function of offering her some slippers* was beyond her.  
She cleared her throat and nudged her glasses back to the top of her nose and pressed the button conveniently placed in front of her. Instead of a hologram like she was expecting, the left wall was folded in half and a third wall dragged a lifeless grey robot into the room before retreating to where it came, it's head, similar to D0G's, was drooping, looking down like it was aware of it's lifeless body with it's back hunched. Abby felt like the mechanical whirl it made as it came to life was akin to a noise of delight. When it was warmed up, it stood up to reveal it's true shape.  
It did* look like D0G a little. Although smaller, more humanlike, modern, it's big green iris moving restlessly, and much colder looking. Abby thought she could see a bit of Aperture in it. She wondered if it could talk.

“Hello and welcome to the Black Mesa Hazard Course,” a woman's voice chimed, “where you'll be trained in the Hazardous Environment Suit. I am your [ROBOTIC] assistant.”  
Abby snorted when she heard the generic robot lady say that in a deep artificial voice, much like those old school announcers. 

“Let's begin by stepping into your suit. You can see it suspended up ahead of you.”  
There was some whirling, and in the room ahead of her stood the unmistakable sheen of orange and black. She Not that there was anything wrong with it necessarily, being close to identical to the real* HEV Mark 6 whose comfort, efficiency and visual appeal was nothing short of phenomenal compared to its predecessors, though it was much, much tinier. After all, despite being much more familiar with the suit, and* taller than others of her age in the compound she was* still just a kid. That never bothered her though. 

So she tiptoed her way to the second area left plain for her to “get used to the equipment”, armed and dangerous wearing a child-sized HEV Mark 6, and with mischief in her eyes.  
“Moving around in your HEV suit may be slightly disorienting-..” the voice slowed and trailed off, catching Abby’s attention. The robot's head was drooped again like it was out of power, but these new robots overthrew the older electrical ones ages ago and they surely wouldn't be using those.  
Then the robot woke up with a stranger mechanical whirl and straightened up, looking around curiously. It's posture was different, it's painfully arched back was hunched a little, it's movements were stiffer and the eye's movements became less erratic. When it spotted Abby, it's pupil dilated and the lower lid rose a little, almost like the machine was mimicking a smile. 

“Abby.” the voice was male. A little on the deeper side but soothing and calm with a hint of joy in it's usually neutral tone. Her eyes widened as she heard her father's voice.

“I... Dad*?” It tilted it's head.

“This one was... You’ve been gone for...” Abby's stiff hands moved side to side with each pause, her brows furrowed furiously, “This one was... I thought you were...” she sputtered, clearly giving up. “So what, you've come back as a robot?!” she blurted out in a ridiculous voice to startle her tears away. Gordon chuckled.

“You know the training facility allows only one person at a time.” The robot put its hands together gingerly. “And I didn't want to intervene with your training. But I had to see you, so I took control of the companion bot.” he said in his light matter-of-fact tone.  
“Oh. Right.” She scratched the back of her neck with a sheepish snort. “Forgot about that.”  
There was a pause, neither of them quite sure what to say at first. He’s never been gone this long. Then Abby looked up at him with a soft smile, and suddenly everything was clear as day. “I missed you, dad.” “I missed you too, dear.” He sighed, then cleared his throat.

“I see you've given the new suit a go.”, he mused. “Most of our team had worked on it and I see it works really well. Though this is one of the earlier models. It will require a couple more tests to get the best results before we present it to public, but I'm already quite proud of it. You should be too.” He nudged her arm and the robot's upper lid rose as if he was attempting to raise it's eyebrows. Abby laughed.  


“Weren't you supposed to be training, young lady?”  


She grinned and shrugged nonchalantly. “I can wait.”

“Hm,” he tapped his feet. “What do you say I accompany you as you train? I'll meet you back upstairs when you're done. And you can fill me in on what happened.”

Abby grinned. “Sounds good. Didn't you go to the headquarters first and learn everything there? You probably know much more than /me/!”  
He paused for a second, then shrugged.  
“I'd like to hear them from you too, if that's okay.”

Of course, she didn't object to that.

They went on together, Abby telling him about the successfully muffled resistance movements of Combine sympathisants, new projects assigned to her in college and how thrilled she was to try the new equipment, how the weather has been, the strange things she saw in her dreams and her first time seeing snow, as she ducked and jumped and ran into a pipe every once in a while as her father listened with enthusiasm. His hands gathered behind his back, moving slowly with her, joking knowingly once when Abby comments about how confusing teleportation was for her and tilting his head with an unseen smile as she laughed.  
Stopping listening only once when she mentions her dreams and her comments about time, starting with that one phrase, like she was reading them from a paper given to her monotonously, planted inside her head. The Free Man stood there, shocked, as his daughter uttered those cryptical words he was so familiar with. Hearing them from her, his /daughter/, was like a knife through his chest. He asked her if she was okay, trying not to seem worried, but Abby read right through him even without a face to read from and rushed to his side, holding his arm, assuring over and over that she was okay and she felt a little blank for a second, probably due to her constant running. He nodded, more to himself than to her, feeling a bit better. He applauded as best as he could when Abby finished her training with nothing more than a bruise and waved as she exited the facility, then the robot drooped his head over his body again as Gordon stepped away, taking off the apparatus he was wearing, looking weary. This was never going to end, was it? This business with.. “G-Man”, watching over him, suspending him in time as he saw fit, as Gordon hoped that it wouldn't be as long as last time, it wouldn't be drastic as last time and this wouldn't be the last he saw his family, his city and his daughter. This time.. This was going too far. From the beginning he knew how this would end. But he was human. And he had a responsibility now, people who look up to him as the savior of mankind, his family. Kleiner, Barney, Alyx, Abby. Eli...  


He was not going to let them touch any of them ever again. He didn't know how, but this time he had a plan. He just wishes he has enough time.


End file.
